Today, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released experimental real, or inflation-adjusted, estimates of personal income for states and metropolitan areas. The inflation adjustments are based in part on regional price parities (RPPs), which provide a measure of differences in price levels across each state and region relative to the national price level for each of the years 2007–2011. When RPPs are applied in conjunction with BEA’s national Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index, which measures price changes over time, personal income comparisons can be made across regions and time periods. These prototype statistics are being released for evaluation and comment by data users.

Growth in real state personal income from 2010 to 2011 ranged from 1.3 percent in Mississippi to 10.4 percent in South Dakota. These growth rates reflect the year-over-year change in the state’s nominal personal income, the change in the national PCE price index, and the change in the regional price parity for that state. After South Dakota, the states with the largest growth rates of real personal income are North Dakota (9.5 percent), Iowa (6.1 percent), Nebraska (6.0 percent), and Texas (4.3 percent). The states with smallest growth rates after Mississippi are Maine (1.4 percent), Rhode Island (1.5 percent), Vermont (1.6 percent), and New Mexico (1.6 percent). Four states—Arizona, Indiana, North Carolina, and Oregon—had growth rates equal to the national average of 2.7 percent.

Growth in real metropolitan area personal income from 2010 to 2011 ranged from a decline of 0.7 percent in Rochester, MN, to an increase of 11.9 percent in Odessa, TX. After Odessa, TX, the metropolitan areas with largest growth rates of real personal income were Midland, TX (10.7 percent), Hanford-Corcoran, CA (6.7 percent), San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA (6.4 percent), and Madera-Chowchilla, CA (6.2 percent). In addition to Rochester, MN, four metropolitan areas had declining or flat growth rates. These are Ocean City, NJ (–0.3 percent), Anniston-Oxford, AL (–0.2 percent), Gadsden, AL (–0.2 percent), and Cape Girardeau-Jackson, MO-IL (0.0 percent).

• Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased in 49 states and the District of Columbia in 2012. Leading industry contributors were durable-goods manufacturing, finance and insurance, and wholesale trade.

• Durable-goods manufacturing was the largest contributor to U.S. real GDP by state growth in 2012. This industry was the leading contributor to real GDP growth in 22 states, contributing 2.87 percentage points to growth in Oregon and 1.70 percentage points to growth in Indiana.

• Finance and insurance was the leading contributor to growth in the Mideast region and contributed 0.75 percentage point or more to real GDP growth in Utah, South Dakota, and Delaware.

• Wholesale trade contributed to real GDP growth in 48 states and the District of Columbia.

• In North Dakota, the fastest growing state in 2012, mining contributed 3.26 percentage points to real GDP growth.

• In contrast, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting subtracted from real GDP growth in 6 of 8 BEA regions and in 35 states in 2012.

• Per capita real GDP ranged from a high of $61,183 in Delaware to a low of $28,944 in Mississippi. Per capita real GDP for the U.S. was $42,784.

To learn more about gross domestic product by state, read the full report.

In the fourth quarter of 2012, average state personal income growth accelerated to 1.9 percent from 0.6 percent in the third quarter, the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2011. Fourth-quarter growth ranged from 1.3 percent in West Virginia to 4.8 percent in South Dakota. The inflation rate was 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, the same as in the third quarter.